Living with IBD Without Cramping My Style! (Hate your guts, not your life!)

Mesalamine and Me

I’ve been on two different versions of this stuff, and suffered ill effects both times, despite being told time and again that it’s “generally well-received.” My response? Please be sure to notify my body, because it didn’t get the memo. The moral of this story? Sometimes you are the one-percenter (or three-percenter, or maybe even (unluckier you) the .001-percenter). Whatever the odds, you have a better chance of winning the lottery or being struck by lightning than having trouble with your new prescription, until it happens. So on top of UC, perhaps you’ll suffer a bonafide reaction to a drug they put you on. Not just experiencing side-effects, I’m talking the put-you-in-the-hospital for 3 nights kind of Wheel of Fortune trip. So you’ll deal with that, as I did, while dealing with all the crap that’s making you miserable in the first place. No eating for damn near 48 hours? No problem. Liquid-only diet for the other 24? BRAT diet to kick things back into gear? Sure, why not? I’ve got an I.V. and apparently all the time in the world, now that I’m burning through what little vacation time remains for the year. Not how I imagined I’d be spending it (I envisioned Vegas or perhaps even St. John) but hell – everything-remote-in-one, vitals by the hour and a roommate who cannot stop obsessively watching “Judge Judy” and “Dr. Phil” and every other mind-numbing annoying-as-hell daytime flick? Sign me up! Let’s flip this into a Mastercard commercial fast: Best fodder for future writing material on the planet (a.k.a my next blog, Introduction to Starvation)? Priceless!

Goodreads

Live A Little

“Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” - Anthony Bourdain

Never Diet

“Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart.” - Erma Bombeck

Mark Twain had IBD and liked it?

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” - Mark Twain

Eat, Read, Try Not to Think About Food

“Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.”
— C.S. Lewis. (We're going to have to amend that to "Reading is a pleasure that combines admirably with trying not to think about how unpleasantly hungry you are." - MyGutsForGarters.)